Published 12:00 am, Monday, March 20, 2006

Works by
Sarah Botswick
,
Damian Loeb
and
Doug Wada
will be combined in the exhibit, "Homecoming."
"The inception of this exhibit was from thinking that there are these artists who grew up in Ridgefield and who have gone on and had successful careers," said
Richard Klein
, assistant director at
The Aldrich
. "There is also the fact that the museum played a role in their lives."
Botswick, a 1997 graduate of
Ridgefield High School
, was involved in the student docent program at the museum.
Her works for the exhibit, "Cliffs and Canyons," play with notions of how much visual information can be removed from a depiction of a place without eliminating a sense of a specific location.
"I like exploring cities and towns and understanding the culture by looking at what people built, how people changed their environment to own it," Botswick said. "
Although she grew up in a family of architects, Botswick said she has no desire to design buildings. Instead she said she sees herself as exploring and documenting culture. She cites her work as having a "current sense of archeology."
Wada left Ridgefield in 1984 to attend the

School of Visual Arts
in New York. He has made his home in that city since.
His works in the exhibit, "Vehicle," looks at the architecture of our nation's capital as it is reflected in the polished surfaces and glass of a Cadillac Escalade.
"These works show a political sensibility that hasn't appeared before in Doug's works," Klein said. "He rented a black Cadillac Escalade, a symbol of America and oil consumption, with an inscrutable nature of tinted windows, causing us to question who's in there. That's the nature of government and Washington at this time."
Wada has become known for paintings that depict everyday objects on a one-to-one scale. "Vehicle" has this ratio, as well. What the viewer sees in these works is up to the individual viewer's interpretation, he said.
"I feel I've succeeded in presenting an image that lets people interpret it openly. I try to understand the world and want viewer to explore it as well," Wada said. "My opinions are ever evolving, as are everyone else's. I don't have a fixed message that I'm trying to get across. The message isn't specific, but the elements are there to see one."
Loeb, who worked as a guard at The Aldrich in the late 1980s, is perhaps the best-known of the three artists. His works have been controversial. Over the years they have made headlines due to lawsuits involving copyright infringement.
"I never saw it as controversial to use found imagery in my work," Loeb said. "Unfortunately some people have. I was many examples of art and commerce and assumed that as an artist it was in the job title that I use any and all imagery that I saw fit for re-examination. It cost me dearly, but I stand by the work."
Loeb's paintings deal with collective memories of familiar images and the way media recycle and recast well-known images from that memory to serve different ends.
"Damian sees himself as part of a generation for which anything out there in popular imagery is fair game for exploration," Klein said.
For his work in this exhibition, "The Constructed Image 1996 -2006," Loeb took horror and science fiction films on DVD and freeze-framed them to examine the cinematography, creating new images, Klein explained.
Loeb's painting, "Can't-you-take-a-joke," was generated from the

John Carpenter
film "Halloween." The title comes from dialogue in the film.
Loeb's work in "Homecoming" explores the process of creating the paintings, as well as the paintings themselves. It is the first time he has opened his process of creation to the viewers of his work.
"This includes the photography that is to make up the next phase of my art," Loeb said. "I am excited and nervous about the nakedness I feel in showing the preparatory images. I am looking forward to hearing the reactions and hope that it will help continue the interest in a dialogue between myself and the viewer."

"Homecoming" is part of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum's spring opening show. It opens on Sunday at 2 p.m. with a panel discussion with the three artists. Call to reserve a space ASAP and for further information, at (203)438-4519.